Portable refrigerator



Feb. 14, 1956 wfl. STEWART PORTABLE REFRIGERATOR Filed Sept. 26. 1952 William L. Stewart INVENTOR.

MM 5M United States Patent PORTABLE REFRIGERATOR William L. Stewart, Fitchburg, Mass. Application September 26, 1952, Serial No. 311,610 1 Claim. (Cl. 62--116) This invention relates to new and useful improvements and structural refinements in portable refrigerators, and the principal object of the invention is to provide a re frigerator of the character herein described, which may be conveniently and effectively transported in automobiles for the purpose of cooling food, beverages or the like, on picnics, long journeys and the like.

An important feature of the invention resides in positioning the motor driven compressor and refrigerant condenser in a sliding drawer under the cooling compartment of the refrigerator, while the refrigerant evaporator is disposed within the cooling compartment, there being provided flexible hoses for connecting the evaporator to the compressor and condenser so that the drawer may be readily opened or withdrawn for the purpose of inspecting the motor unit.

Some of the advantages of the invention reside in its simplicity of construction, in its durability and in its adaptability to economical manufacture.

With the above more important objects and features in view and such other objects and features as may become apparent as this specification proceeds, the invention consists essentially of the arrangement and construction of parts as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional view, taken substantially in the plane of the line 22 in Figure 1, and

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional detail, taken substantially in the plane of the line 3-3 in Figure 2 Like characters of reference are employed to designate like parts in the specification and throughout the several views.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, the invention consists of a portable refrigerator which is designated generally by the reference character and embodies in its construction a rectangular housing 12 including a cooling compartment 14 and a drawer compartment 16.

The cooling compartment 14 has an insulated bottom 18, insulated front, side and back walls as exemplified at 20 and an insulated cover 22 which is hinged to the housing at 24 and is swingable upwardly as indicated at 26. A suitable latch 28 is provided for sustaining the cover in a closed position.

The upper portion of the front wall of the cooling compartment 14 is provided with a door 30 carried by inges 32 for forward and downward swinging movement as shown at 34, and the same latch 28 which is used in connection with the cover 22 is also used for sustaining the door 30 in its closed position.

A suitable shelf 36 is provided in the cooling compartment 14 and a refrigerant evaporator 38 is mounted within the cooling compartment on the back wall, as shown. The inlet and outlet tubes 40, 42, respectively, extend 2,734,351 Fatented Feb. 14, 1956 from the evaporator 38 through the insulation in the back wall of the housing and through the insulation in the bottom 18 to a point substantially at the center of the bottom, where they are connected to a pair of flexible hoses 44, 46 respectively.

A drawer 48 is slidably mounted in the compartment 16, this being achieved by providing the drawer at the underside thereof with channels 50 which slidably engage guides or tracks 52 secured to the base 54 of the housing.

A compressor 56 is mounted in'the drawer 48 and is driven by a suitable electric motor 58, and the drawer also accommodates a refrigerant condenser 60.

A line 62 extends from the outlet of the compressor 56 to the condenser 60, while the outlet of the condenser is in communication with the aforementioned flexible hose 44. The hose 46 (also flexible) is in communication with the inlet of the compressor 56.

It is to be noted that by virtue of the central disposition of the points of connection of the hoses 44, 46 to the lines 40, 42, and by virtue of the length of the hoses 44, 46 themselves, the drawer 48 may be pulled outwardly beyond the position indicated by the dotted lines 64 in Figure 2, so that access may be had to the motor, compressor or condenser, as required.

An appropriate temperature control 66 is provided at the front of the drawer 48 and is operatively connected to the motor 58, whereby the operating temperature of the refrigerator may be effectively regulated. The motor 58 is connected by a conductor 68 to a suitable source of power.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention, it is to be understood that minor changes in the details of construction and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

A refrigerator unit comprising a cooling chamber, said chamber including an insulated bottom, insulated back and end walls fixed to said bottom, a lower insulated front wall section secured to said bottom and said end walls, an upper insulated front wall section hingedly mounted on said lower front wall section, an insulated lid hingedly mounted on said back wall, latching means attaching said lid to said upper front wall section to retain said upper front wall section in closed relation, an evaporating element mounted in said chamber, a combination compressing condensing unit outside of said chamber, said compressing and condensing unit being movable with respect to said chamber, flexible conduits connecting said compressing and condensing unit to said evaporating element, a drawer compartment disposed under said cooling chamber, a drawer slidably received in said compartment, said compressing and condensing unit being mounted in said drawer.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 134,386 Madden Dec. 31, 1872 209,548 Center Nov. 5, 1878 1,526,828 Bowlus Feb. 17, 1925 2,230,862 Carroll Feb. 4, 1941 2,450,844 Stuart Oct. 5, 1948 2,454,727 Wherry Nov. 23, 1948 2,462,115 Luecke Feb. 22, 1949 2,524,655 Dunlap Oct. 3, 1950 2,658,355 Katzenberger Nov. 10, 1953 

